


Phantom Pain

by liliaeth



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 21:01:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1563911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liliaeth/pseuds/liliaeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She should have just killed Deucalion when he came to hire her. She didn't. This is why</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phantom Pain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Enigmatic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigmatic/gifts).



She’d spent a month in the hospital, two months before she was well enough to start working again. So why again had she accepted to work for the very man that had put her in the hospital in the first place?

Her side still hurt when it rained, her head hurt at the most unexpected moments and when she’d seen the formerly blind Alpha she’d been ready to knock him out with a tazer, put him down for good, take his head off, cut him in half and make sure he was buried under wolfsbane. 

And then he’d made his offer. 

Her throat still ached when she ate spicy food, her…

But she needed money. God, did she need money. The hospital wasn’t cheap and being out of work for several months while she recovered had drained her reserves. She figured that was the reason she didn’t kill him right away. Or at least, the reason she didn’t try before he ripped her throat out.

She needed money and he offered money. But she‘d still resisted. She knew his order to have her killed was nothing personal. They’d been after the kid she was supposed to protect, not her. But once she got in the way, she’d given him no other choice.

And if she repeated that a few times, she might even believe it. 

In the end, it was the assignment itself that had made her change her mind. Peter Hale could drop dead for all she cared, but Derek…

She’d owed him a debt once; it had been what had made her his agent in finding his young beta in the first place. It was a debt he didn’t know about, a debt truly owed to Laura Hale, the previous Alpha of the Hale pack. And a woman who’d… who’d meant far more than she’d ever thought anyone would. 

And it was the one reason that as far as she was concerned, Peter Hale could burn, again. 

She remembered Laura: such a beautiful woman. She was the first werewolf that Braeden had met. Laura had been in college, while Braeden had been on an assignment, kind of like this one. Laura had gotten in the way, and in the end, the two of them had ended up locked in a basement together, tied to one another. 

If Laura had been on her own, she would have escaped easily, but she had tried to protect Braeden... even after she found out that Braeden was the reason she’d been taken in the first place. It felt wrong: she was supposed to be the strong one, and Laura with her pretty face and her sunshine for hair should be the innocent caught in the crossfire.   
Their kidnappers never expected the wolf that tore into them. They were even less ready for the beautiful girl with blood at her teeth throwing them out of the way. And Braeden, she’d just looked at this force of nature and stared in awe. 

Laura had been giggling as they walked into Braeden’s safe house, Braeden leaning on the smaller woman who just asked her if she had a place to clean up. And all Braeden could think of were the teeth and the fangs. Her world had been shaken; there were monsters in it, things too dangerous to imagine.

It was a world where a small thin wisp of a girl like Laura could take out an entire squad of men, and merely wonder how to get the blood out of her clothes. Where people could turn into wolves and act as if it were the most normal thing in the world. So when Laura came out of the bathroom, looking the epitome of perfection, Braeden asked her how to become like her, what she had to do. Only her pride kept her from begging for the power, the strength. Laura had said no.

That should have been it. Braeden should have left, grateful and never seen Laura again. Only… Laura invited her for a cup of coffee and Braeden hadn’t been able to say no. And they had sat there and Laura had looked at her hands.

“It’s not that I don’t understand, Braeden. The bite is a gift and I would be proud to have you as a member of my pack.”

“They why not?” Braeden remembered asking. Wasn’t she good enough.

“When my little brother was fifteen, he fell in love with a girl. A sweet girl, I didn’t know her well. I might have met her in school once or twice. But whenever he talked about her, his entire face lit up and he would smile as if she meant the world to him.”

Braeden hadn’t understood. 

“Our mother never would have turned her, not unless she was sure the girl could handle it. Not until she’d have fully understood the risk and went into it willingly and knowingly. But there were other Alphas in town at the time and Derek… he was too young and stupid to realize the risk. All he saw was the opportunity.”

“Oh God.”

“She died, Braeden. She died painfully and horrifically. In the end, Derek had to kill her to stop her suffering. “

“And that’s why…”

“Mom told me about Paige to warn me, to explain why most Alphas are so hesitant to turn anyone. Why it’s wrong to force the bite on anyone, no matter what a gift it might be. I know you’re not afraid to take the risk. I know you’re strong. But the change is harder on adults to begin with and I can’t put you through that until I’m sure.”

Because Laura would have to be the one to put her down and Laura was too kind to carry that burden.

Braeden had closed her eyes, put her hand on the other woman’s and nodded. She hadn’t needed to say the words. 

They went for ice cream after that, and Braeden had wiped away the milk from Laura’s lips that stained her teeth just as the blood had earlier and Laura pulled her closer for a kiss. They’d looked one another in the eyes, and then they fell together. 

It lasted four months. One introduction to Laura’s brother, as a friend, offering her help if he ever got in trouble. But most of it was private. Braeden spent her time as a retrieval expert, people, things. And Laura just… ran the family business, tried to live her life, leading her small pack of two. 

The night before Laura returned for Beacon Hills, they’d spent the evening watching movies, mocking movies really, lying there, her hands on her lover’s body.

“It’s alright.” Laura had said. “It’ll just be for a few weeks. Until I find out who’s messing with my Pack’s territory. “

“I could come with you, help you.” Braeden had offered, but Laura had silenced her with a kiss.

‘This is pack business. “she’d said. “It has to be me.”

And Braeden had let her go. When Derek had called her to tell her what happened, she nearly destroyed the room. When he called her again to warn her about Peter, she'd wanted to kill him. 

When Derek told her that Peter was dead… Laura’s uncle, Laura always said he couldn’t be trusted. But he’d been Pack, so they looked after him. And he’d tricked her into turning her back on him, before he’d betrayed her. 

He hadn’t even given her the benefit of a fair fight.

But it had been Derek’s right to kill him, Derek’s right to do what needed to be done. And Derek had.

Until Peter came back. 

“I didn’t come here to save you.” She’d told him. If it were up to her, she’d leave him, let those hunters cut him up and tear him to pieces. But his life was Derek’s and so was his death. 

It’s what Laura would have wanted.

Braeden didn’t trust Deucalion. Just like she didn’t trust Peter. But she’d owed a debt to Laura and through her to Derek. Laura’s little brother who like her hid his pain behind anger, said it was nothing personal, while raging against the world. 

Laura had said that losing a member of your Pack was like losing a part of your body. Braeden wondered if the phantom pain would ever end. She had many pains and aches, so much left of what Deucalion had done, had pushed her through. She didn’t mind them. One day someone would hire her to kill Deucalion and she would. 

But for now she took what he gave her and stared at the Pack joining together. At the Pack forming and Derek joining in with his new Alpha. It’s what Laura would have wanted. For Derek to be whole again. 

She waited.

 

Finis

**Author's Note:**

> This was not a pairing that was asked for, I know. So I hope my recipient won't hate it too much. I started out with this as Derek/Braeden, but then Laura showed up and her and Braeden looked at one another and one thing led to another and the next thing I know this came out of it instead. 
> 
> Let's hope it works.


End file.
